The Market Linkages between Smallholder Tomato Producers and the Tourist Hotels in Arusha City, 2020.

Abstract

This study aimed at exploring the market linkages between smallholder tomato producers and the tourist hotels in Arusha City. This study adopted a cross-sectional research design that helps the researcher to collect data at one point at a time. Data were collected using questionnaires. The major findings of the study were that; there existed several market relationships between smallholder tomato producers and tourist hotels in Arusha City but the most common one was where local vendors sold directly to tourist hotels in Arusha City. The major factors influencing the market linkages included; quality of tomatoes supplied, the nationality of hotel managers and ownership, consistency of tomatoes supplied by farmers, nature of customers supplied, and final class of accommodation offered. The challenges affecting the market interactions included; low quality of the tomato products, Existence of marketing and intermediary challenges where the local producers are exploited by intermediaries and hotels by wanting their tomatoes on low prices, legal and institutional-related challenges where farmers are either forced to accept the unfavourable terms of trade from the tourist hotels or lose the market, Poor government policy which offers no protection to local tomato suppliers, Poor marketing and infrastructure constraints which hinders the smallholder tomato producers from reaching the tourist hotels in Arusha city, lack of a legal framework to enforce compliance with contracts. Smallholder tomato producers should be in constant communication with the producing officers of tourist hotels in Arusha City to identify the key requirements that goods need to meet to be bought by them hence matching tourist hotels preferences to the required quality.